Class 8: Diet to prevent and reverse diabetes

Google Talk on How Not To Die
Here you can listen to the main points on how not to die from the leading causes of death (includingdiabetes at 23.54 minutes and kidney function at 27 minutes) from Dr. Greger’s famous book How Not To Die. ONE DIET CAN FIX IT ALL!

On page 107 of his book How Not To Die Dr. Michael Greger has a figure about the prevalence of diabetes among non vegetarian, semi vegetarian, pescovegetarian, vegetarian, and vegan. Asdietsbecomeincreasinglyplantbased, there appears to be a stepwisedropindiabetesrates. Please see Table 1 on page 2 of the full report of Vegetarian diets: what do we know of their effects on common chronic diseases in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (You can also see the drop in BMI and Hypertension the more the diet is plant based)

Following the guidelines of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) helps reduce people’s A1C, an index of long-term blood glucose control, by 0.4 points. However, eating a plant based diet can lower hemoglobin A1C by 1.2points, three times the change in the ADA group.

A 2006 study, conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine with the George Washington University and the University of Toronto, looked at the health benefits of a low-fat, unrefined, vegan diet (excluding all animal products) in people with type 2 diabetes. Portions of vegetables, grains, fruits, and legumes were unlimited. The vegan diet group was compared with a group following a diet based on American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines. The results of this 22-week study were astounding:

Forty-three percent of the vegan group and 26 percent of the ADA group reduced their diabetes medications. Among those whose medications remained constant, the vegan group lowered hemoglobin A1C, an index of long-term blood glucose control, by 1.2 points, three times the change in the ADA group.

The vegan group lost an average of about 13 pounds, compared with only about 9 pounds in the ADA group.

Among those participants who didn’t change their lipid-lowering medications, the vegan group also had more substantial decreases in their total and LDL cholesterol levels compared to the ADA group.

This study illustrates that a plant-based diet can dramatically improve the health of people with diabetes. It also showed that people found this way of eating highly acceptable and easy to follow.
For more details read about Diet and Diabetes: Recipes for Success